The Dursleys get a Surprise
by tribute324
Summary: Another reading the books fic, but this one is different. The Dursleys have recieved a mysterious package. The Harry Potter Books! Just as they begin to read, they get some visitors. Set after Voldemorts demise, and the Dursleys are back on Privet Drive. I do not own Harry Potter.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello Pottereads! I have always wanted to read one of these, but I can't find one so I decided to **write one for myself. The Dursleys have found the Harry Potter books! I hope you enjoy! P.S this takes place after book seven. The Dursleys have returned from hiding.

Dudley Dursley was on his home from tea at a friend's. He stopped at his front porch and picked up a package that was laying on the doorstep. He brought it inside, and handed it to his mother.

Petunia opened it without even really looking at it. She gasped when she saw what was inside.

"Vernon, Dudley, come here this instance." She yelled.

She heard the pounding of feet coming down the stairs and in from the living room.

"What is it mum?" Dudley asked.

"Look, look at what we have been given." She said holding out a book.

"_**Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone," **_ she read aloud.

"A book on Harry's life?" Dudley asked.

"It appears so. I say we read it."

"NO! Absolutely not. I will not have mention of that boy in this house again! We were lucky to be rid of him." Vernon said, going red in the face.

"Two against one dear, sorry." Petunia argued.  
The family walked into the sitting room to begin the first book. Just then in a giant flash of light, three people appeared.

"Hey! It's my "family"" Harry Potter stated sarcastically.

The other two happened to be his notorious partners in crime, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley.  
"Well, lets get to reading!" Ron complained impatiently.

The Dursleys just gawked at the three.

"Oh sorry, okay introductions. Hermione, Ron, this is my Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Cousin Dudley."

"Please to meet you." Hermione, always civil, greeted them.

Ron just stayed silent, as did the Dursleys.

"Okay," Harry sighed. He knew this was going to happen. After all he had sent the books.

"I sent you the book, so that you could see what really went on during my years at Hogwarts. Don't even start. If you're going to read these books Vernon, you are going to have to learn to deal with anything and everything to do with magic."

"Why you little," Vernon started, coming at the boy.

He didn't get very far. He stopped when all of a sudden three wands were pointed at his throat.

"I think you have forgotten Vernon," Ron said in a dangerous voice, "You have three fully trained, completely of age, wizards in your house, who are not afraid to curse you into next week."

"Alright, alright, let's just get this over with."

"Okay, I'll read first." Hermione grabbed the book excitedly.

"No surprise there," Ron snorted, causing Harry to burst into laughter.

"Oh be quiet Ron." Hermione responded annoyed.

"**The Boy who lived,"**


	2. Chapter 2: Boy who lived

**Thanks for everything guys! Warning, major Dursley bashing in this chapter! Oh what fun!**

**Enjoy!**

**I do not own Harry Potter. Everything belongs to Queen Rowling.**

"**The Boy Who Lived," **Hermione read.

"**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much."**

Uncle Vernon nodded, as if he was proud of the statement.

"It wasn't a compliment." Ron sneered. He really didn't like the Dursleys.

"**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they didn't hold with such nonsense."**

"Not unless were forced too." Vernon muttered.

"Heard that," Harry commented.

"**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills."**

"What's a drill?" Ron asked.

"It's like a screwdriver, those pointy things in your dad's garage, but it spins by itself." Hermione explained.

"Oh, okay thanks Mione." Ron said, grabbing her hand.

The Dursleys just gawked. How could he not know what a drill was?

"**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache."**

The golden trio all looked at Vernon, and then burst out laughing. That was a very accurate description.

Uncle Vernon just huffed. He did not appreciate that.

"**Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors."**

"There is nothing wrong with wanting to know what is going on around you."

"Wish I could have known what that felt like," Harry mumbled under his breath, remembering all the times important information had been kept from him.

Hermione was the only one that heard, and she looked sadly at her friend.

"**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere."**

"You know I love you Mom, but seriously, you spoiled me rotten." Dudley said. He had grown up over the last few years, and realized how wrong he had been to just go along with his parents.

Petunia just looked down, having the decency to look ashamed.

"**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it."**

A deep growl began in the back of Harry's throat.

Hermione and Ron scooted, just a little, away from him. They had seen him when he was truly angry, and it was not something they wanted to experience it again.

Vernon and Petunia gulped. They really hoped this book didn't go into too much detail.

"**They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters."**

Harry's growl became louder.

Ron and Hermione couldn't believe it.

"**Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; if fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be."**

Harry was shaking with anger. And surprisingly, so was Ron.

Ron jumped up and pointed his want at Petunia.

"You are sick. How can you pretend like your own sister doesn't exist! I used to have six siblings, but now I only have five, thanks to the war. I care more about my siblings than anybody else! How can you not even care that your sister was risking her life, every moment, for the entire human race! Wizard and human alike!"

If there was anything that Ron got angry about, it was anyone messing with any of his siblings. He just couldn't rap his head around the fact that anyone, no matter how evil, could hate their own family, to the point of pretending she didn't exist.

Petunia just sat there shocked. When she thought back on it, she couldn't believe how she had acted. She realized a horrifying fact. Her sister had died, thinking that she hated her. She hung her head. There was so much she wished she could have fixed. But it was too late for that now. She couldn't do anything to make it up.

Hermione noticed the sobering mood, and decided to keep reading to try and get this over with as quickly as possible.

"**The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that."**

"I might have been better behaved if I had. Harry has good character." Dudley told his mom.

Harry's mouth almost hit the floor. He never thought Dudley actually thought of him as more than someone who took things away from him.

"**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday that our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest the strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair."**

"Jeez, even then I was a brat." Dudley muttered. He couldn't believe his past self.

"**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.**

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house."**

"How could you encourage that sort of behavior?" Hermione asked Vernon, appalled.

Vernon, who was very mad at this point, didn't answer, but gave Harry a look that clearly said they would be dealing with this soon.

Harry gulped. He had never told his friends the extent of his abuse at home, and he really didn't want them to know. He knew he was in for it.

"**He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive. It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar- a cat reading a map."**

"I've got twenty newts its McGonagall." Harry wagered, looking at his friends.

"I'll take that bet." Ron laughed, pulling the money out of his pocket. He had gotten a job with Harry as an auror, so he had been able to help out his family, and still have some left. Being an auror paid quite well.

Petunia and Dudley were looking at the two boys like they had indeed gone insane.

"Wizarding money," Harry explained simply.

"I get that part, I just want to know who this McGonagall person is," Dudley said.

"Transfiguration Professor," Ron said.

"You're taught by a cat?" Dudley exclaimed.

The two young wizards went red in the face from holding in their laughter.

"You'll see." Harry said mysteriously.

"**For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen- then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light."**

"Jeez, I sort of understand with muggles who don't know about magic, but you know all about it and you still refuse to believe it. Sometimes you guys just crack me up, with your excuses." Ron laughed.

"Muggles?" Dudley asked, getting more interested in the wizarding world by the second.

"A term used to describe non- magic people." Harry explained.

"**Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was reading the sign that said Privet Drive- no, **_**looking **_**at the sign; cats can't read maps **_**or**_** signs."**

"McGonagall can, and does," Hermione laughed, joining in this time.

"**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day."**

"You have a bit of a one-track mind Sir," Hermione said sweetly, but with a look of pure evil in her eyes. "Pity," she remarked. This man had hurt her friend for many years, and that was not okay.

"**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks."**

Ron gasped. "There has only been one day, in all of history, where we were that careless." He whispered, but loud enough for the whole room to hear.

The color drained from Harry's face, as he realized what day this was, and he put his head in his hands. Hermione rubbed soothing circles on his back, and Ron put a protective hand on his shoulder.

Harry really didn't want to hear this all again.

Dudley watched, still confused.

"**Mr. Dursley couldn't bear young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt- these people were obviously collecting for something…yes that would be it."**

"You wish," Ron said.

"**The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills."**

"You must really enjoy drills to think about them that much."

"**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. **_**He**_** didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open- mouthed as owl after owl sped over-head."**

"Why would that be so weird?" Ron asked confused. Owls were perfectly normal birds.

"Owls aren't usually out during the day Ron, well, in the muggle world their not." Hermione said.

"**Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important phone calls and shouted a bit more."**

"How can you stand that? It that all you do?" Ron asked aghast.

Vernon just grunted. He really did hate this ginger haired boy.

"**He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery.**

**He'd forgotten all about the people in clocks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed."**

"Trust me, even if they noticed, they didn't care."

This was Harry, surprisingly. Ron burst out laughing.

"**He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

"**They Potters, that's right, that's what I heard-"**

"**-yes, their son, Harry-"**

Harry put his head in his hands again. He didn't think anybody really understood how much he missed his parents, even after all these years. They were the main reason he was still alive, and why he chose to fight in the war.

Ron and Hermione were looking worriedly at their friend. This was going to be really hard for him.

Ron grabbed Hermione's hand, reassuring her that everything was alright, and that Harry was fine.

Dudley just looked at Harry, confused. What day could this be that had Harry so upset?

"**Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking…no, he was being stupid."**

"Finally the truth is revealed," Ron whispered trying desperately to cheer his best mate up, but it wasn't working.

"**Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew **_**was**_** called Harry."**

"How can you not know the name of your own family?" Ron asked. He was sickened at the fact that family didn't seem to be important to these…these people if you could call them that.

"**He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold."**

"Those are ghastly names." Hermione stated.

Nobody bothered to argue with her. She was telling the truth.

"**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her- if **_**he'd **_**had a sister like that…"**

Harry began to growl in the back of his throat.

Ron looked about ready to murder the Dursleys right where they sat.

Hermione looked calm on the outside, but inside….that was a different story.

Dudley couldn't believe how his parents had acted. They were horrible.

"**But all the same, those people in cloaks…**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

"**Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak"**

"I bet that's Dadleus Diggle! It sounds just like him." Ron exclaimed.

"Maybe," Hermione said thoughtfully

"**He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare,**

"**Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"**

"Somehow, I don't find that day happy at all." Harry said darkly.

"Okay, what day is this?" Dudley asked not being able to stand it anymore.

"This is the day Voldemort was defeated." Harry stated.

"But that's a good thing right?" Dudley said. He didn't know who this Voldemort character was, but everyone seemed to hate him.

"You'll see, but please just drop it for now." Ron said, not rudely, but sternly enough to get his point across.

"**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

"If Fred and… If- If George ever heard you say that, he would strangle you." Ron said, all humor gone from his voice.

Dudley wasn't a stupid kid, contrary to popular belief, and he could put this one together.

Fred seemed to be a person who was no longer around.

Wait, hadn't Ron said he used to have six siblings and now he only had five, thanks to the war?

That would mean that Fred was that missing sibling. He must have been killed in the war.

Poor Ron.

"**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw- and it didn't improve his mood- was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

"**Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly."**

"If that is McGonagall that is going to do absolutely nothing."

"**The cat didn't move."**

"Told you."

"**It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife."**

"Well, you should have." Petunia said sternly.

She felt incredibly guilty for the way she had treated Lily, and how she had treated Harry, her own nephew. She was determined to make up for it.

"**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't").**

"I was horrible." Dudley said stunned.

"It's okay Dudley, don't beat yourself up about it. It wasn't your fault."

Harry glared angrily at the parents in question during the last part.

"**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news.**

"**And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin."**

"He must be a wizard then. He's probably a muggle born, or married to a muggle, and he thinks it's hilarious that the muggles can't comprehend the fact that owls are out during the day."

""**Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight Jim?"**

"**Well, Ted," Said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early- it's not until next week folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

"It didn't rain that night either, so that weather man was an idiot." Ron stated, trying to lighten the mood.

It got everyone's spirits up, except Harry's.

"**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters…"**

"You finally put it together. Congratulations." Hermione said with a sneer.

Ron looked surprised. He had never seen Hermione like this. He kind of liked it.

"**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea."**

"Speaking of tea," Hermione said.

With a wave of her wand a tea set appeared on the coffee table. She then levitated food and a steaming tea pot in from the kitchen.

"Help yourselves," she said.

Vernon refused to touch anything that had been touched by magic, but Petunia and Dudley both poured themselves a cup of tea, along with Hermione and Ron, who handed Harry a biscuit. He took it politely, but did nothing more than nibble the edge a bit.

"**It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er- Petunia, dear- you haven't heard from you sister lately, have you?"**

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister."**

It was Ron's turn to growl this time.

Everyone just wanted this chapter to be over soon.

""**No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

"**Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls…shooting stars...and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today…"**

"_**So?"**_**snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

"**Well, I just thought…maybe…it was something to do with…you know…**_**her**_** crowd."**

"No offence, Mr. Dursley, but you are as spineless as a flobberworm, if you can't even say the word wizard.

"A what?"

"The most boring creatures ever. We had to take care of them in third year. We ended up killing them because we fed them too much lettuce. But, it wasn't our fault, because that was all they could do was eat and sleep." Ron was the one that said this of course.

"**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son- he'd be about Dudley's age now wouldn't he?"**

"**I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

"**What's his name again? Howard isn't it?"**

"**Harry. Nasty, common name, isn't it?"**

"I happen to love the name." Said a voice in the doorway.

Everyone jumped around to see a girl with flaming red hair standing there.

"Hey Gin." Harry said not looking up. He didn't need too. He knew her voice.

"Sorry, I'm late; I'm still not used to this apperating stuff."

She then noticed Harry.

"What happened?" She asked quickly.

"We are reading the books about Harry, you know that."

"Okay, what are we reading about?" she said slowly.

"Well, the chapter is about, the day voldemort was defeated, the first time."

Ginny's hand flew to her mouth. She sat down beside Harry and put an arm around him, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Oh, yeah," Harry said to the Dursleys, finally looking up. "This is my girlfriend, Ginny."

"Pleasure to meet you." Both Dudley and Petunia said, shaking her hand in turn.

"You too."

"Alright, let's get this over with." Harry said, gesturing for Hermione to read.

""**Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his hear sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."**

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something."**

"Is that McGonagall?" Ginny asked with a smile.

"We think so, because it definitely isn't a normal cat." Ron said laughing.

Harry joined it too.

It was a relief to his friends. They never intended these books to bring back bad memories.

"**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did…if it got out that they were related to a pair of- well, he didn't think he could bear it."**

"Correction, flobberworms have a bigger spine than you."

"**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind, His last comforting thought before he fell asleep as that even if the Potters **_**were **_**involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind…He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on- he yawned and turned over- it couldn't affect them.**

**How very wrong he was."**

"No kidding."

"**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead."**

"Because she is not a normal cat, and because she is used to owls."

"**In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hard and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt."**

"Dumbledore," all the wizards in the room whispered, looking sad.

Dudley guessed this was another friend who had been lost in the war. How many had Harry lost?

"**He was wearing long robes, a purple clock that swept the ground, and high- heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice."**

"That's definitely Dumbledore."

"**This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome."**

"He probably knew, and didn't care." Ginny said, finally breaking the solemn mood that seemed to hang around the house like a very thick fog.

"Yeah, that sounds like something he would have done." Ron agreed.

"**He as busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly** **at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him, He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known.""**

"That's all the proof I need. Pay up." Harry said gesturing to Ron.

"Ah, we still don't know for sure."

"Yes we do, Ronald." Hermione said, laughing at her boyfriend's vain attempt to get out of paying

"Fine," he muttered handing over the money.

"**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it."**

"RON!" All the wizards yelled, when the lights went out in the room.

"Okay, okay, no need to yell." He replied, putting the lights back.

"**The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again- the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even the beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

"**Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

"I already paid, so not a word out of any of you."

"**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes."**

"I am still confused. Who is that woman?" Dudley asked.

"That's McGonagall. She can turn into a cat at will."

"Okay, now the whole cat for a teacher thing makes sense."

"**She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

"**How did you know it was me?" She asked.**

"**My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

"**You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall."**

"And there's the sarcastic McGonagall we all know and love."

""**All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

"**Oh yes, everyone's celebrating all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no- even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursley's dark living- room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls…shooting stars… Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent- I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

"**You can't blame them," Dumbledore said gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

"11 years?" Dudley asked.

"You don't know the half of it." Harry said sighing. Whether it was this recent war, or the one that took his parents, it was all one giant war against the evil that was so well represented in Voldemort."

""**I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."**

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all."**

"You-Know-Who?" Dudley said quizzically.

"Voldemort. People were so afraid they wouldn't even say his name. They also called him, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

"He was really that bad?"

"Worse actually." Ron stated.

Dudley looked astounded. Who was this man?

"**I suppose he really **_**has**_** gone, Dumbledore?"**

"**It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

"**A **_**what**_**?"**

"**A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."**

"He was fond of anything sweet, wizarding or Muggle." Ginny laughed.

"Actually he wouldn't eat Bertie Bot's," Harry said, shocking everyone.

"Why not?"

"Because he got an earwax, and a vomit, which kind of ruins them."

""**No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who **_**has **_**gone—"**

"**My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense—for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: **_**Voldemort.**_**"**

"Or Tom, if you really want to tick him off, like if you have a death wish or something." Harry said laughing.

All the other wizards joined in, knowing what he meant, but the Dursleys just sat there in confusion. They figured it would be explained later in the books.

"**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."**

"**I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh all right, **_**Voldemort, **_**was frightened of."**

"Yeah, except for a teenage boy, who is a scrawny git."Ron said teasingly.

Harry just hit him.

""**You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

"Only because he was too noble to use them." Ron said.

Hermione burst out laughing.

"What?"

Hermione began to read.

""**Only because you're too- well -**_** noble **_** to use them."**

Ron groaned.

"This cannot be happening."

Everyone else just laughed. Well, everyone except Vernon.

""**It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed this much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

"Now that is just down right disturbing."

"**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the **_**rumors**_** that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

Harry's head went back to his hands. Ginny put an arm around him, and just held him close, knowing that he just needed time.

"**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true."**

"I didn't believe it either." Petunia said sadly.

Dudley was still confused.

"**Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

"**What they're **_**saying,"**_** she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are- are- that they're- **_**dead."**_

Tears began to leak from Harry's eyes, as Ginny rubbed soothing circles on his back. He had never really grieved his parents, even though he missed them dearly every single day. Hearing about their deaths, it just brought everything back.

Dudley was stunned. No wonder this story was so emotional for Harry, and his friends were so supportive. He couldn't imagine living in a world without his parents. Harry didn't even know anything about his parents. It was awful.

"**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

"**Lily and James…I can't believe it… I didn't want to believe it…Oh Albus…"**

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know…I know…" He said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. But- he couldn't. HE couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke- and that's why he's gone."**

"Wait, he tried to kill you?" Dudley asked shocked.

"You act like he only tried once. He must have tried, how many times was it?"

"Counting when you were a baby, at least 6, but probably more."

Dudley's jaw nearly hit the floor. What went on in this world?

"**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

"**It's – it's **_**true**_**?" Faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done…all the people he's killed…he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding…of all the things to stop him…but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

"**That we can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

"You knew exactly what happened. You just decided to keep it to yourself." Harry said half agitated. It still bothered him that so many secrets about his own life had been kept from him.

"**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

"Probably. Hagrid can't keep a secret to save his life."

""**Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me **_**why**_** you're here, of all places?"**

"**I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

"Wait a minute; we are the only family left, at all?" Dudley asked.

"Yeah, Voldemort killed every last one."

Dudley didn't know what to say to that.

""**You don't mean- you **_**can't **_**mean the people who live **_**here?**_**" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore- you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son- I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here."**

"If only you had fought just a little bit harder." Harry mumbled under his breath. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny looked at each other, having heard. They definitely needed to talk to Harry later.

""**It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

"A letter. He thought he could explain all that in a letter?" Hermione shrieked.

"Yeah he did. It was terrible." Petunia answered.

""**A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous- a legend- I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future-"**

"Thank God that didn't happen." The rest of the wizards just laughed.

"**-there will be books written about Harry- every child in our world will know his name!"**

"Jeez, being famous sounds awesome." Dudley said enviously.

"No, it's not. It's annoying, and usually gets you put into bad situations." Harry sighed. Ron and Hermione just nodded. Since the war had ended, they had become famous as well. Now they understood Harry's hatred of his fame.

""**Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember!"**

"I wish I didn't remember." Harry said with his head down. Luckily nobody heard him, except for Ginny, who just put her arm around him.

"**Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

"Yes, but if I had been kept in the wizarding world, I could have gotten used to the fame before going to Hogwarts, so it wouldn't have been such a hard thing to adjust too."

"Very valid point." Petunia agreed.

"**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said "Yes- yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his clock suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it."**

Harry paled. "That was a disturbing image." He said with wide eyes.

Ron just laughed at his best mate.

""**Hagrid's bringing him."**

**You think it- **_**wise**_**- to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"I would trust Hagrid with anything." All the wizards stated in unison.

""**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

"**I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not carless. He does tend to- what was that?"**

Everyone subconsciously leaned it toward the book.

"**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky- a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them."**

"Now that, is a cool bike." Ron said, remembering when his dad had finally gotten the bike working.

"**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing compared to the man sitting astride on it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide."**

"Hagrid!" All the wizards cried. They really were quite fond of their giant friend.

"**He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so **_**wild**_**- long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins."**

"Interesting description there Potter," Ginny laughed.

"Hey," Harry threw his hands up, "I didn't write the book."

"**In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

"**Hagrid," said Dumbledore, "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**

"**Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."**

"**No problems, were there?"**

"**No, sir- house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we were flyin' over Bristol."**

"Awww," Hermione and Ginny cooed at the book.

Ron just laughed.

Harry smacked him in the face with a pillow.

'Ron shut up.

"**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep."**

Cue more cooing.

"**Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

"**Is that where-?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

"**Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."**

"It did fade a little bit though." Petunia chimed.

""**Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

"**Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself about my left knew that is a perfect map of the London Underground."**

"Okay, that is both weird, and information we didn't ever need to know." Ron said.

Harry laughed. Even though he hated his scar at some points, it had helped him save many lives, including Ron's own father.

"**Well- give him hear Hagrid- we'd better get this over with."**

**Dumbledore took harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursley's house.**

"**Could I- could I say good-bye to him sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss."**

The girls cooed once again, much to the annoyance of their boyfriends.

"**Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

"**Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"**

"**S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it. Lily an' James dead- an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles-"**

"That would be pretty sad."

You can guess who said that one. Hint- the one famous for having absolutely no tact whatsoever.

""**Yes, yes, it's all very said, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two."**

"He left you on a DOORSTEP!" Hermione shrieked, horrified that someone who she had always looked up to, could have been so irresponsible and carless.

Ron shouted in agreement along with Ginny, all outraged.

"Guy's, it's the past, and I'm fine, so please calm down." Harry said gently, grabbing his girlfriend by the hand.

It took a few minutes, but they finally did calm down enough for Hermione to begin reading again.

"**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

"**Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

"I know of a few people who definitely weren't partying." Harry said glumly.

""**Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall- Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

"Too bad he never did get the bike back." Harry mumbled under his breath.

"**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine to life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

"**I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her, Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply."**

"Okay, I know this chapter sucks, but that is funny." Ron said, just trying to defuse the tension.

"**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four."**

"I still can't believe he did that to you." Ginny said, seething.

"It's fine," Harry said quietly, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb.

She smiled at him and laid her head on his shoulder.

""**Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his head and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone. A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley."**

"Sorry about that Harry." Dudley mumbled.

"It's okay. You were one, it's fine."

"**He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter- they boy who lived!"**

"Really hate that title." He mumbled.

"That's the end of the chapter," Hermione said.

"I'll read Mione." Ginny said taking the book."

**Hey Guys! 21 pages and 7,780 words later it's finally done. Sorry about the long wait, life got really crazy. Updates will definitely be more often now. Please review, they give me the encouragement to keep updating! **


	3. Authors note, sorry!

Hey guys!

Firstly I want to apologize for making you think this was a chapter, and I promise I am working on it. I know I haven't updated in a while and I feel terrible, but my computer crashed and my entire hard drive was wiped, so all of my stories were gone, and I had to start the chapter over again. So, I will continue to work on it, and hopefully have it up sometime in the near future.

I also want to thank you guys for all the love this story has gotten, all the reviews and feedback really do mean a lot to me, and give me the encouragement I need to continue writing this story.

Again, sorry this wasn't an actual update, I hope to get one up soon!

Thanks!

-Tribute324


	4. Chapter 3: The Vanishing Glass

**Hey guys! Thank you so much for all the feedback! Okay, so what other characters do you guys want introduced into the story? Leave me a review! If I get enough of one person, I will add them in!**

**Nerd fun fact****: In 2005 on Doctor Who, they predicted that an asteroid would hit Russia in 2013. IT CAME TRUE!**

**They also predicted that the democrats would win the 2012 elections.**

**Coincidence? I think not!**

**Enjoy!**

**p.s. - sorry if some of the words are different, I have the American version.**

"**The Vanishing Glass," **Ginny read.

Harry began laughing remembering Dudley's face.

"What?" Ginny asked.

"You'll see."

"**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all."**

"Boring!" Ron yelled, and everyone had to agree with him.

"**The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different colored bonnets-"**

"I don't know whether I should be offended or not." Dudley said, with a confused look on his face.

Everyone just laughed.

"**-but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too."**

"Of course not," this was of course, mumbled.

"**Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.**

"**Up! Get up! Now!""**

"Very pleasant way to wake a child up in the morning," Hermione sneered at Petunia.

Petunia looked down at her feet, ashamed at the way she had treated her own nephew.

"**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

"**Up!" She screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

"Because it wasn't a dream," Ron laughed.

"**His aunt was back outside the door.**

"**Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

"**Nearly," said Harry.**

"**Well, get a move on, I want you to cook the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn. I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

Everyone had different reactions to this quote.

Hermione and Ginny were outraged that Harry had been forced to cook.

Ron and Harry were laughing at Dudley's nick name, although Harry knew more were to come, each worst then the last.

Dudley was embarrassed that the name was in the book, and was really hoping the rest weren't in there.

Petunia was ashamed, once again for her behavior.

Vernon really didn't care.

"**Harry groaned.**

"**What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door."**

"He didn't say anything."

""**Nothing, nothing…**

**Dudley's birthday- how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed, and after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on."**

"Ugh, spiders," Ron said. He hadn't overcome his fear yet, but he was working on it.

"**Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept."**

The response was immediate.

"What the heck!" Screamed Ginny.

"Bloody hell!" This, of course, was Ron.

Hermione didn't scream, she just sat there and fumed.

"Guys, calm down, it's fine." Harry said, pulling his girlfriend down, who had stood up, as Hermione did the same with Ron.

"I want to see it," Ginny demanded. Ron and Ginny nodded their heads.

"Guys, is that really necessary?" Harry asked, close to begging. He really didn't want them seeing it.

"Yes, now come on."

The party followed Harry out into the hall. He opened the door to his cupboard, and stepped aside to show them. Ginny almost gasped. It was even smaller than she had imagined. Ron and Hermione were fuming that their friend was treated this way. Harry had never talked about his home life much, but they knew it hadn't been good. They had never imagined it would be this bad.

"There, you've seen it, now can we go back to the book?" Harry pleaded.

"Fine, but we are talking about this later." Ginny fumed.

Once they were all settled back in the living room, Ginny picked up the book and found her place.

"**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike."**

"Why did you want a bike anyway?" Harry asked, genuinely curious.

"I just wanted more stuff, and I couldn't think of anything else. Just goes to show what a spoiled brat I was."

"**Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise-"**

"Sorry." Harry said quickly.

"It's alright. It was the truth." Dudley knew he had been very, very fat when he was younger, but had lost a lot of the weight once he got older.

"**- unless of course it involved punching somebody."**

"You better not have hit him." Hermione said in a very low tone. This was a Hermione that people rarely got to see, the murderous Hermione.

"**Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him, Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast."**

"Fast is an understatement," Ron mumbled under his breath.

"Is this why your glasses were always broken, because he would punch you?" Hermione demanded of Harry.

"Sometimes," Was all Harry said.

"**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age."**

"Again, understatement," Ron breathed. He remembered when Harry first arrived on platform 9 3/4, He had been the smallest one there. Even though he was only a first year, he had still been tiny.

"**He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobby knees, black hair, and bright green eyes."**

"Your mother's eyes," Petunia sighed.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Harry smiled.

"**He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning."**

"You actually liked your scar?" Ginny asked, slightly surprised.

"Yeah, I used too. It was the one thing that made me different, special. Now, I absolutely hate it, most of the time." Harry said.

Ginny nodded in agreement to that last part, as did the other wizards in the room.

Dudley began to wonder what this scar had to do with anything.

"**He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it."**

"**In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don't ask questions.""**

Ron, Hermione and Ginny were appalled. Ron and Ginny because the Dursleys had lied to Harry about his parents, and Hermione because he wasn't allowed to ask questions. How was he supposed to learn if he wasn't allowed to ask questions?

"_**Don't ask questions**_**- that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.**

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

"**Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting."**

"That would be hopeless," Ginny said laughing, ruffling her boyfriend's hair, which was already sticking up.

"Hey, cut it out," Harry said, trying desperately to flatten his hair, but to no avail.

"**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way- all over the place."**

"Very true," Ron laughed a long with the others.

"**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small watery blue, and a think blond hair that lay smoothly on this thick, fat, head. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel- Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig."**

"Sorry," Harry offered.

"Hey, it was true." Dudley said. He really wasn't offended, he had been a jerk, and he really did want to make it up to Harry.

"**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**

"**Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. **

"**That's two less than last year.""**

"Seriously? You are disappointed and you got that many? You really were a spoiled brat." Ron said, he never got that many presents and he came from a family of nine.

Dudley at least had the decency to look ashamed.

""**Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under the big one from Mommy and Daddy.""**

"I really hate her," Harry sighed, then smiled at the memory.

"Is that the one that you…?" Ron said, trailing off as he tried to control his laughter.

"Yep," Harry said, popping the P. Everyone burst out laughing at the memory. All except the Dursleys, who still weren't quite over that little accident.

""**All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over."**

"Okay, that is just sad," Ginny sighed.

"**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another **_**two**_** presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? **_**Two**_** more presents. Is that all right?"**

"Okay, that is not a good way to handle that problem." Hermione murmured.

"**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty…thirty…""**

"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed, surprised that anyone over the age of three could be that stupid.

""**Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

"**Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled.**

"**Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy Dudley!""**

"You encouraged that kind of behavior?" Hermione asked a little disgusted.

Vernon didn't pay her any attention, which made everyone quite angry.

"**He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR."**

"Tell you later," Harry and Hermione said at the same time, when Ron and Ginny opened their mouths to ask what all that stuff was.

"**He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried. **

"**Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction."**

"He's still there you know," Ginny said hotly.

"It's fine Ginny, they never say my name." Harry muttered. It was perfectly normal, for the longest time he didn't think they even knew his name.

Ginny decided not to say anything. This was not the time or the place.

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away."**

"Harry, that's not very nice." Hermione said jokingly, like she was scolding a first grader.

"Hey, I didn't know who she was!" Harry said, defending himself.

"Wait, who is she?" Dudley asked curious.

"Oh, she's a squib. She would report to Dumbledore how I was doing." Harry said with a smirk.

Mr. Dursley's face went a kind of ashy gray color, at the thought. He didn't need a bunch of freaks banging down his door, because of his good for nothing nephew.

**Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.**

"And she had a lot of cats."

"**Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this."**

"I was 10! Even if I wanted too, which I did, I couldn't have pulled it off." Harry said.

Dudley was wondering if his parents were completely sane. He wasn't so sure at the moment.

**Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.**

"Those are horrible names for animals." Ginny said.

"Says the girl who named my owl Pigwidgeon," Ron snorted.

"Pigwidgeon is a lovely name." Ginny said.

"**We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.**

"Oh please no, I beg of you, no." Ron said, having heard all about the horrible woman from Harry.

"**Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

"Feelings mutual," Harry said.

**The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there- or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.**

"That's horrible." Hermione gasped.

"**What about what's-her-name, your friend- Yvonne?"**

"**On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.**

"You were not in a good mood were you?" Ron joked.

All the wizards, and Dudley, laughed.

"**You could just leave me here." Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.**

"That would be really funny." Ron commented.

"**And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**

"He's 10! And he doesn't even know how to use magic yet! How would he blow up the house?" Ron shouted.

"That's what I wanted to know." Harry said.

"**I won't blow up the house," Harry said, but they weren't listening."**

"They never did." Harry mumbled.

"**I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly,"… and leave him in the car…"**

"He is not an animal!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Hermione calm down," Harry said gently.

"**That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone…"**

"Oh my Merlin! He is a person, not some animal that hasn't been trained!" Ginny yelled, horrified at this man's treatment, of her boyfriend.

**Dudley began to cry loudly. If fact, he wasn't really crying- it had been years since he'd really cried- but he knew if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

"That is horrible. No wonder he's a spoiled brat." Hermione huffed.

"**Dinky Duddydums,"**

Ron laughed so hard he fell out of his chair, and Harry was laughing so hard he almost did as well. Hermione and Ginny just giggled at their friends antics, before yelling at them to grow up.

Dudley was as red as a tomato.

"Oh, just read," he said.

**Don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him,**

"**I…don't…want…him… t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs.**

"That is incredibly childish," Hermione scolded Dudley.

"I know, I know, I was awful." Dudley said, horrified at his former self.

"**He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin though the gap in his mother's arms.**

**Just then, the doorbell rang- "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically- and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat.**

"He looked a lot like a young Petegrew." Harry said, hate evident in his voice at the thought of that sorry excuse for a man.

**He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.**

"Of course, you couldn't be seen crying, it would ruin your image." Ron sneered at the boy.

"You can cry in front of your real friends without shame, because they will always be there to comfort you." Hermione said, and Harry nodded his agreement.

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursley's car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life.**

"That's sad." Ginny mumbled under her breath.

Hermione and Ron were the only ones who heard her, and they both nodded in agreement.

**His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

Harry really hoped the book didn't go too far into what happened that day. He subconsciously rubbed his chest where his uncle had hit him.

"**I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy- any funny business, anything at all- and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."**

"Please tell me you were never in there that long?" Ginny looked pleadingly at her boyfriend, hoping she was wrong and that they hadn't gone that far.

Harry's silence was all the answer she needed.

"**I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly…"**

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursley's he didn't make them happen.**

"Yes, you did, you just didn't know it. It was accidental magic." Hermione said knowingly.

"I know that now Mione, I just didn't then." Harry said with a smile.

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar."**

"You just didn't want people recognizing him didn't you?" Ginny seethed.

Petunia just looked down, ashamed, because that was exactly what she had done it for.

**Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spend a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses.**

Hermione was saddened by this. She knew what it was liked to be bullied like that. She hadn't known anything else until she meant Harry and Ron. It was awful, and made everything harder.

"It's fine guys, seriously," Harry sighed, seeing the looks he was getting.

**Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hard exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off. He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he **_**couldn't **_**explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

"Bloody Hell! You knew it was accidental magic, and that he couldn't control it, and you still punished him!" Ginny yelled, furious with Petunia.

Petunia hung her head in shame, she really had been awful to the boy.

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls).**

"That's just ghastly," Ginny said wrinkling her nose.

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but it certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided that it must have shrunk in the wash, and to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

**On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens.**

"How exactly did you get up there?" Ron asked, trying not to laugh.

"I honestly have no idea," Harry said shaking his head, laughing.

Everyone else began laughing then too.

**Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney.**

"Harry, you must have apparated! That's amazing!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yeah, that must have been it. That's some pretty good accidental magic." Ginny agreed.

"Okay, can someone please explain all this?" Dudley asked, extremely confused.

"Well," Harry said, "when a wizard is a young child, from about 7- 11 when they go to school, their magic is just beginning to show itself. It tends to go a little crazy, so children start using magic without meaning too. That is accidental magic. Apparation is when a wizard disappears and reappears in another place."

"Thanks, that makes sense." Dudley said, nodding.

"Harry, mate, I think you have been hanging around Mione too much." Ron said, smiling.

Hermione glared at him, and hit him with a pillow.

**The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.**

Everyone chuckled to themselves.

"Harry, even you aren't that skinny." Ginny said, poking him in the side.

"Hey, I didn't know about magic, I had no clue what had happened." Harry said defending himself, which didn't work too well.

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage- smelling living room.**

"That's just sad," Hermione muttered under her breath. Luckily nobody heard her. She really was saddened by the thought of all the things Harry had missed out on during his childhood.

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects.**

"You make me sick," Ginny sneered at the offending man.

Vernon just glared at her, the boy had been horrible and disrespectful, he deserved what he got.

**This morning, it was motorcycles.**

"…**roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

"**I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

"Harry, you are an IDIOT!" Ginny yelled at him.

Hermione and Ron just face palmed. Harry really didn't think sometimes.

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beat with a mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!" **

"Oh yes they do, I've got one." Harry smirked.

Uncle Vernon looked gob smacked.

**Dudley and Piers sniggered.**

"So mature," Hermione sighed.

"**I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."**

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was a in a dream or even a cartoon- they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

"He can't do anything if he doesn't even know that magic exists." Ron said, sounding like he was talking to the little first years.

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop.** **It wasn't bad either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blonde.**

"Sorry Dudley," Harry said, looking quite sheepish.

"It's alright, it was true." Dudley said, shrugging his shoulders.

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him.**

"Sorry Harry," Dudley said, ashamed of his behavior.

**They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.**

**Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

"Of course it was, you have the worst luck of anyone in the entire world." Ginny sighed. Her boyfriend really did have dreadful luck.

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and think, man- crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car, and crushed it into a trash can- but at the moment it didn't look in the mood.**

"That is bloody amazing!" Ron exclaimed.

"Honestly Ron, it's just a snake," Hermione said, she hated snakes, ever since she had been petrified she had been creeped out by them.

Ginny was the same way. She hated the ghastly little creatures.

"Hey, that snake was quite friendly, and nice." Harry said, defending the snake.

"Harry, please tell me you didn't talk to it." Hermione complained.

"Yes, yes I did."

Hermione groaned. This wasn't going to end well.

**In fact, it was fast asleep.**

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**

"**Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

"**Do it again," Dudley ordered.**

"Honestly, an 11 year old boy should not be able to order his parents around." Ginny said. If she had tried to pull this kind of stuff when she was 11, she would have been grounded for a month.

**Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

"**This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't of been surprised if it had died of boredom itself- no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long.**

"When you say it like that, it's actually a very sad thought." Hermione said, feeling bad for the snake.

**It was worse than having a cupboard for a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**

"Only to do my chores and eat meals though," Harry said, glaring at his Uncle, knowing that there was one more reason he was let out of his cupboard.

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.**

"And the magic begins." Ron said groaning along with the rest of them.

_**It winked.**_

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.**

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:**

"_**I get that all the time."**_

"Wait a minute, you can talk to snakes?" Dudley asked, his jaw about hitting the floor.

Harry smirked, and began hissing in parseltonge.

"Okay, stop it , that's creepy mate." Ron said.

"Fine fine, but yes, I can talk to snakes. I'm what's called a parselmouth."

"**I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

"**Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

**The snake jabbed its tail at he little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.**

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**

"**Was it nice there?"**

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo.**

"Aw, that's sad. He's never seen anything but the inside of the zoo." Ginny said.

"**Oh I see- so you've never been to Brazil?"**

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made them both jump. "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THEIS SNAKE! YOU WONT **_**BELIEVE **_**WHAT IT'S DOING**_!"_

"And cue, the snitch." Ron said. That boy was going to be the reason Harry got in trouble, and he didn't like it one bit.

**Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.**

"**Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor.**

"Bloody Hell! Why would you do that?" Ginny screamed at the boy in question.

"I know it was wrong, and I'm sorry." Dudley apologized yet again, ashamed at his former self's actions.

"It's okay Dudley, it's the past, you don't have to apologize anymore." Harry said with a grin.

**What came next happened so fast no one was how it happened- one second Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, and the next they had leapt back with howls of horror.**

"I get the chapter title now, _The Vanishing Glass._" Hermione said.

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.**

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come…Thanksss, amigo."**

"That was nice." Hermione said, a little awestruck.

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.**

"**But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber.**

"Jeez, over react much?" Ron said sarcastically.

**As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death.**

"It did nothing of the sort," Ginny said.

**But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"**

Everyone groaned, that boy was going to get Harry in so much trouble.

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go- cupboard- stay- no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

"WHAT!" The wizards yelled.

"Guy's it's fine really," Harry started before being interrupted by Ginny.

"No Harry, it's not okay, they were starving you, that's wrong."

"No wonder you were so skinny when you first came to school mate," Ron said, seething.

"Just keep reading," Harry sighed, wanting to get the part with the Dursleys over with, and get on to Hogwarts.

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.**

"You shouldn't have to sneak around just for food." Ginny said.

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died.**

"That's because there was no car accident." Ron said.

**Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.**

Hermione gasped, "You actually remember that night?" She asked.

"Sadly, I wish I didn't." Harry said with his head down.

Ginny sat next to him and put her arm around him, comforting him.

Dudley felt horrible for Harry. It was bad enough he had lost both his parents, but to remember when it happened, it had to be horrible.

**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all. **

"At all?" Dudley asked.

"Well, I got some bits and pieces from my godfather, and my parents other friends, but I really don't know a whole lot." Harry said glumly.

**His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family.**

"No, they're not, we're your family too." Hermione stated, and the others nodded in agreement.

"I know that now, thanks guys." Harry said, grinning.

**Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything.**

"You can't hide him from the truth forever." Ginny said.

**A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily to him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.**

"People can be so carless." Ron said shaking his head.

**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

"That's just sad." Hermione sighed.

"That's the chapter," Ginny said.

"I'll read next if you don't mind." Dudley said, taking the book and starting to flip the pages.

"Ah, not until after lunch." Aunt Petunia called, as everyone headed for the kitchen.

**Hey guys!**

**Sorry for the long wait, life got crazy!**

**Please read and review! Your feedback makes me feel so loved!**

**Thanks!**

**p.s: don't forget to comment what characters you want brought in**

**-tribute324**


	5. Chapter 4: Letters from no one

**HEY GUYS!**

**Thanks so much for all the love this story has gotten! It really inspires me to keep writing!**

**Hope you enjoy the story!**

**-tribute324**

"**Letter's From No One," **Dudley read.

**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest- ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started,**

"When's your birthday?" Ginny demanded of Dudley.

"March 31st," Dudley said quietly.

Ginny turned red, but stayed silent, adding this instance to the list of things she needed to talk to Harry about.

**And Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.**

"Really don't think of other people do you?" Ron sneered.

"I didn't used to, but I do now." Dudley said, once again ashamed of his actions.

"It's alright Dudley, you've really matured it looks like, besides, this is the past." Hermione said.

**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader.**

"That actually makes sense logically." Ginny commented.

**The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting.**

Dudley quickly looked at the floor, as three glares were directed to him. He knew that if looks could kill, he would be dead.

**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope.**

"Of course, because you get to come to Hogwarts," Ron exclaimed.

Harry simply shook his head at his friends antics, but did smile a little bit.

**When September came he would be going off to secondary school, and for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings.**

Uncle Vernon looked quite proud.

"Ugh, what a name for a school," Ron said, sounding grossed out.

"Ron, you guys go to a school called Hogwarts, so I wouldn't be talking." Dudley said.

**Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school.**

"No, you're coming to Hogwarts!" Ron exclaimed.

**Dudley thought this was very funny.**

"**They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?" **

"**No thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it- it might be sick."**

"Brilliant!" Ron yelled, laughing.

Hermione and Ginny were giggling, and even Dudley was laughing.

**Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said.**

**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smelting's uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's. Mrs. Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before.**

"I wouldn't be," Ginny agreed.

**She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.**

"That was very nice of her," Hermione said.

"Yeah, she was pretty nice to me." Harry agreed.

**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smelting's boys ware maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called baters.**

"That's just ghastly," Ginny said, revolted.

**They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.**

"If you want everyone to become criminals," Hermione mumbled under her breath.

**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up.**

Ron was on the ground he was laughing so hard, and Harry looked about ready to join him.

"Really, grow up Ronald," Hermione said, but it didn't have much effect because she was laughing too.

**Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh.**

Harry had didn't restrain himself now.

**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.**

"What the heck is that?" Ron asked.

"**What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question. **

"**Your new school uniform," she said.**

**Harry looked in the bowl again.**

"**Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."**

Ron laughed again.

"**Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dying some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."**

"I doubt that," Hermione said.

**Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it was best not to argue. He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High- like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.**

"Good thing you never had to wear it then," Ron commented.

**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.**

"You had horrible manners," Ginny said. She had been taught from a very early age how to behave, which was a privilege this boy had obviously been deprived of.

"I know, "Dudley said, sounding disgusted at his former self.

**They heard the click of the mail slot and flop letters on the doormat.**

"**Get the mail Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

"He is making Dudley do something? It's a miracle!" Ron yelled.

"**Make Harry get it."**

"**Get the mail Harry."**

"Well, that killed the mood." Ron said.

"**Make Dudley get it."**

"**Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."**

"Well, it was worth a shot, mate." Ron said.

**Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wright, a brow envelope that looked like a bill, and- **_**a letter for Harry.**_

"Your Hogwarts letter!" The Weasleys present yelled.

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever ,in his whole life, had written to him. Who would?**

"Oh I don't know, just like the ENTIRE WIZARDIG WORLD!" Ron exclaimed.

He jerked his thumb towards Ginny.

"Present company included."

Ginny blushed, and motioned for Dudley to read.

**He had no friends, no other relatives- he didn't belong to the library, so he never even got rude notes asking for books back.**

Hermione looked miffed at the fact that someone could _not _ belong to the library, but she kept her mouth shut.

**Yet here is was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**

_**Mr. H. Potter**_

_**The cupboard under the stairs**_

_**4 Privet Drive**_

_**Little Whinging**_

_**Surrey.**_

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink.**

"Hey, why is everything the school gives us written in green ink?" Ron asked.

"I think it's because McGonagall writes them all, and green is here favorite color." Hermione said, acting like that was obvious.

**There was no stamp.**

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms, a lion,**

"Gryffindor!" Ron shouted.

**An eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter **_**H.**_

"**Hurry up boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke.**

Ron paled a bit, "That is unworthy to be considered a joke."

**Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter.**

"No, Harry, you should have opened it in the hallway, now they are going to take it, and not let you read it." Ginny whined.

Harry just laughed and kissed her forehead.

**He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope.**

**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard.**

"**Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny welk…"**

"Shame it didn't do more damage." Harry joked.

"**Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!"**

"And, cue the angry, purple faced, weirdo." Ron snorted.

**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.**

"**That's **_**mine**_**!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back.**

"**Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it.**

"Everyone in the wizarding world, that's who."

**His face went from red, to green faster then a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish while of old porridge.**

Ron was laughing at this description.

"What is so funny Ronald," Hermione

"Come on Mione, you can't tell me you don't fine that mental image hilarious."

Hermione thought about it for a second, and then smiled. It was pretty funny.

**"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped. Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach.**

"Duh, it isn't yours either," Ron sneered.

**Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise. "Vernon! Oh my goodness - Vernon!" They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored.**

"Of course I wasn't, they never paid attention to anything but me. To be honest it got a little annoying sometimes." Dudley sighed.

Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon both stared at the ground, Aunt Petunia because she was ashamed, Vernon because he was plotting.

**He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.**

"That just shows how badly you were brought up. It's not your fault, but it is unthinkable for a child to be able to hit his parents." Hermione said.

"**I want to read that letter," he said loudly.**

"What gives you the right to read it," asked Ron.

Dudley just shrugged.

"_**I **_**want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it is **_**mine**_**."**

"Now where did you get that logic Harry?" Ron snorted.

"**Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.**

**Harry didn't move.**

"Oh here we go," Ginny rolled her eyes.

"What?" Harry asked.

"You don't get mad often, but when you to, it's bad." She laughed.

"**I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.**

"See," Ginny said smirking.

"**Let **_**me **_**see it!" demanded Dudley.**

"**OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them.**

"Don't you dare hurt them," Ginny growled.

Uncle Vernon just sneered at her.

**Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.**

"That's it Harry, use your resources." Ron said.

"**Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address- how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?"**

"We have much better things to do then pay any attention to some stupid muggles." Ron sneered.

"**Watching- spying- might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.**

"Jeez, can you say paranoid?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, we have a lot better things to do then spy on a bunch of muggles." Ron laughed.

**Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen. **

"**No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer…Yes, that's best…we won't do anything…"**

"Oh that's not going to work." Hermione said seriously.

"Why not?" Ginny asked.

"The letter system is enchanted. Until they receive and answer, the letters will just keep coming. If they go to long, they will send someone to come investigate." Hermione said, "It says so in _Hogwarts a History_."

"Oh, this is going to get very interesting." Ginny said.

"Oh you have no idea." Harry sighed.

"**But-"**

"**I'm not having one in the house Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"**

"If you hurt him in any way, I swear I will kill you," Ginny growled.

Harry wrapped his arms around her, trying to calm her down.

Vernon just sneered at her. She would never find out, he would make sure of it.

He looked Harry right in the eye, clearly saying 'If you tell her, you will wish you had never been born'.

Harry must have understood, because he paled slightly, and motioned quite quickly for Dudley to keep reading.

**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.**

"**Where's my letter?" said Harry the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?"**

"Straight to the point I see," Ron snorted.

"**No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly. "I have burned it."**

"**It was **_**not **_**a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it."**

"**SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling.**

"Jeez, someone has a temper," Ginny remarked.

"You have no idea" thought Harry to himself.

Ron just shuddered at the thought of spiders falling from the ceiling. It reminded him all to much of the forbidden forest.

**He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful.**

"I would image, considering he never does smile."

"**Er- yes, Harry- about this cupboard."**

"You know his name? It's a miracle," Ron said, half joking, and half growling.

**Your aunt and I have been thinking… you're really getting a bit big for it…we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."**

"You son, had two bedrooms, and your nephew had to sleep in A CUPBOARD!" Ginny yelled, seething.

Harry tried calming her down again.

"Come on Gin, it's fine, it's the past."

"No, Harry James Potter, it is most certainly not fine." She snapped at him.

"It is the past though, it's over now, and there is nothing we can do about it."

"I know, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

Harry laughed and kissed the top of her head.

"**Why?" said Harry.**

"Harry, don't ask questions! Hurry up and move before he changes his mind!" Ron exclaimed.

"Ron your talking to a book." Harry said.

"Shut it."

"**Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now."**

**The Dursley's house had four bedrooms: one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom.**

"That is just another sign that he was spoiled." Hermione said.

**He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbor's dog; in the corner was Dudley's first- ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favorite program had been cancelled.**

"Anger issues!" Ginny sang.

**There was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bend because Dudley had sat on it.**

"That is a horrible way to treat an animal." Hermione sighed.

**Other shelves were full of books. They were the only thing in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched.**

Hermione looked appalled, but kept quiet.

**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, "I don't **_**want **_**him in there… I **_**need **_**that rooms… make him get out."**

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it.**

"Really Harry?" Ginny asked.

"Well, yeah," Harry said. "No one had ever really wanted to talk to me before, so it was a big deal, and after 10 years, I learned to love that cupboard."

"I guess that does make sense. It was your home." Hermione said thoughtfully.

"Exactly." Harry nodded.

**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back.**

All the wizards, minus Harry, were looking appalled at this behavior.

Dudley hung his head in shame. He really had been an awful child.

**Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.**

**When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it. They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive."**

"And so it begins," Ginny laughed.

**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind.**

"Is that always how you fight things that are bigger than you?" Ron joked, remembering their fight with a troll later that same year.

"Apparently," Harry responded.

**After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand.**

"Man, you almost had it." Ron said.

"**Go to your cupboard- I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley- go- just go."**

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan.**

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny groaned.

"What?" Harry defended.

"No offense mate, but your plans suck." Ron said.

"Every time, we make a plan, it fails, and we wing the rest of it." Hermione stated.

Harry huffed, but he knew they were right.

**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.**

**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first.**

"That is…actually…a very good plan." Hermione said, sounding a bit surprised.

"Yes, but with Harry's luck, it won't work." Ron said.

**His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door-**

"**AAAAARRRGH!"**

"Please let it be what I think it is!" Ron exclaimed.

**Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squishy on the doormat- something **_**alive!**_

"Please, please ,please," Ron muttered.

Ginny and Hermione, having caught on to what Ron meant, were silently hoping too.

**Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face.**

"YES!" Ron yelled, laughing.

Ginny, Hermione, and Harry laughed at their friends antics, but were also amused at the mans misfortune.

**Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do. He shouted at Harry for about half an hour then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by time he got back, the mail had arrived right into Uncle Vernon's lap.**

"Crap, you're never going to get that letter!" Ginny said.

"Well, obviously I did eventually, because I showed up on September 1st." Harry laughed.

**Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.**

"**I want-" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes.**

"That was completely cruel, and uncalled for." Hermione told the older man.

Vernon, of course, ignored her.

**Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot.**

"That is a bit of overkill. Plus, it won't help." Ginny said.

"**See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't **_**deliver **_**them they'll just give up."**

"**I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon."**

"Yes, listen to her, for once she is actually making sense!" Ron yelled.

Harry just shook his head.

"**Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me,"**

"Thank Merlin were not." Ginny said.

Hermione, Harry, and Ron nodded in agreement.

**Said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.**

"It's official, he's gone completely mental." Hermione said.

Harry laughed, "Hermione, he was mental long before this."

**On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom.**

**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out.**

"That's insane! How are they supposed to get what they need?" Hermione exclaimed.

**He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises.**

"Paranoid," Ginny sang, causing the rest of the wizards, and even Dudley, to laugh.

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand.**

"They weren't already?" Ron asked.

**Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window.**

"That would have been a funny sight to see." Ron said.

"It was actually." Dudley laughed.

**While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.**

"The more creative they got with giving us the layers, the more creative they got with destroying them." Harry laughed.

"**Who on earth wants to talk to **_**you **_**this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.**

**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy.**

"**No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letters today-"**

"Forgetting this is wizards you're dealing with, our post never stops." Ron smirked.

**Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets.**

"That's awesome!" Ron shouted, while Ginny laughed in agreement.

**The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one-**

"Why not just grab one off the floor?" Hermione asked.

Harry thought for a moment. "I honestly don't know, must have been the seeker reflexes."

"Seeker?" Dudley asked.

"The book will explain."

"**Out! OUT!"**

**Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall.**

"You better not have hurt him." Hermione growled.

Harry laid a hand on her shoulder.

"It's fine Hermione, I didn't get hurt." He said.

This seemed to be enough for Hermione.

**When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor.**

"**That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his mustache at the same time.**

"That would have been hilarious to see." Ron commented.

"**I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!"**

"That isn't going to work." Ginny sang, smiling.

**He looked so dangerous with half his mustache missing that no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded- up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him around the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag.**

"Okay, as wrong as it was for him to hit you, were you really that dependent on technology?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, I was at the time." Dudley admitted.

**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while. **

"**Shake 'em off…shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.**

"Now he really seems crazy." Ron said.

"Oh he was, it didn't just seem like it. He was crazy." Harry said, with a mock seriousness.

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day.**

"That's not healthy." Hermione said.

**By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone this long without blowing up and alien on his computer.**

"That's really sad," Ginny said.

**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy- looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering…**

"You seem to do that a lot mate," Ron said.

"How would you know?" Harry asked.

"Mate, I lived in the same dorm as you for seven years, I know these things."

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day.**

"Yuck," Ron grimaced.

**They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table.**

"'**Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk."**

**She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address.**

_**Mr. H. Potter**_

_**Room 17**_

_**Railview Hotel**_

_**Cokeworth**_

"Anyone else think it's pretty weird how they know exactly where everyone is?" Dudley asked.

"It's magic. Heck, they keep a trace on you until your seventeen." Harry laughed.

**Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Verno knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.**

"**I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room.**

"**Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her. Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew.**

"Probably because he didn't know either," Harry stated.

**He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again.**

"That's just weird." Ginny said.

"Gin, crazy people do weird things, and we have already established that he is indeed crazy, therefore, he does weird things." Harry laughed.

Ginny smiled and leaned into his shoulder, and he put his arm around her.

**The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage.**

"**Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon. Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared.**

**It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley sniveled.**

"**It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a **_**television.**_**"**

**Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it **_**was **_**Monday- and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days of the week, because of television- then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday.**

"Did you actually forget your own birthday Harry?" Hermione inquired.

"Yeah, it was never celebrated, so it was easy to overlook." He shrugged.

The wizards looked at each other. They made a silent pack to make Harry's next birthday amazing.

**Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun- last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks. Still, you weren't eleven everyday.**

**Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.**

"We found out soon enough." Harry said.

"**Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!"**

**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rok way out at sea. Perched on top of the was the most miserable little shack you could imagine.**

"Please tell me you didn't go out there." Ginny moaned.

Harry remained silent. Which just made the rest of the wizards groan.

**One thing was certain, there was no television in there.**

"**Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's agreed to lend us his boat!"**

**A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, and an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray water below them.**

"That cannot be safe." Hermione said.

"It definitely wasn't." Dudley agreed, remembering how sick he had felt riding in it.

"**I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!"**

**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house.**

**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed ,the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.**

"That is not fit for human inhabitants!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Hermione, it was only for the one night. It's fine." Harry said.

**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas.**

"That is not proper food." Ron said.

**He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shriveled up.**

"**Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully.**

"That was mean." Ginny sneered.

**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.**

**As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the hight waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few moldy blankets in the second room and made up a bad for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.**

"They made you sleep on the floor!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yeah, but it wasn't that bad." Harry defended.

"It doesn't matter! It's the idea! They don't treat you any better than a common animal!" Ginny exclaimed.

Ron wasn't the yelling type, but he was silently fuming over the treatment of his best friend.

"Can't you guys just drop it." Harry sighed.

"Fine, but we will talk about this later." Hermione huffed.

**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time.**

"You really should be asleep if it's that late." Hermione scolded.

"Hermione, could you have slept in those conditions," Ron challenged.

"Well, probably not honestly, but… oh fine."

**He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now.**

"Probably in the castle, asleep, or getting ready for the upcoming year."

**Five minutes to go, Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did.**

"Is that Harry, actually looking on the bright side of something?" Ron gasped.

Hermione and Ginny began laughing, while Harry pouted. Harry never looked on the bright side of anything.

**Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow.**

**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?**

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were subconsciously leaning forward, even though they knew what happened, they didn't know details.

**One minute to go and he'd be eleven Thirty seconds…twenty…ten…nine- maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him-**

"Do it!" Ron yelled, making everyone laugh.

**Three…two…one…**

Dudley paused here, for dramatic effect.

**BOOM.**

He yelled this part very loudly, causing everyone to almost jump out of their seats, then laugh.

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**

"That's the end of the chapter." Dudley said closing the book.

"Why don't we break for some lunch," Petunia suggested, hurrying into the kitchen.

Everyone got up and followed her, eager for the food.


End file.
